Where is the sleep monkey ?

[Bevfall]

Why can't I sleep ??? Even when I've been good , stuck to diet and exercised ... Soon as I get to bed .. Ping , wide awake ! Then I'll be exhausted all day tomorrow .. Any tips ?? Please x

[portmoon]

Here are my tips;

1. Don't drink anything containing caffeine after 6pm

2. Don't exercise too soon before going to bed - give yourself 2 or 3 hours to wind down

3. Try to do something relaxing before you go to bed like having a bath or getting your other half to give you a massage

4. Don't work, watch TV or read anything with too much excitement in your bedroom

5. Make sure your room is not too hot/too cold/too bright/too noisy (use earplugs)

6. Try not to stress about it - this will make it worse

7. If you can not get to sleep after half an hour get up, get out of your bedroom and do something else for a while

8. Download this theguardian.com/lifeandstyl... or something similar

9. Have a look at this; patient.co.uk/health/insomn...

I would avoid prescription sleeping tablets as they are highly addictive. I'd also avoid the over the counter ones as well as they tend to cause drowsiness the next morning, making it very difficult to get up and probably dangerous to drive the next day.

Hope that helps!

[Bevfall in reply to portmoon]

Thanks for replying and the advise ... Will defo try the get up and do something ... And download article ...

Was frustrated last night because I'd done some exercise thought that would do the trick, but will do it earlier tomorrow night . Fingers crossed x

[portmoon in reply to Bevfall]

The guardian sleep podcast (number 8 above) works very well for me. I downloaded it on to my phone and usually just fell asleep with my earphones still in. It gets you to relax all the muscles in your body one at a time whilst counting backwards. My theory is that doing these two tasks at the same time distracts the 'thinking' bit of your brain that keeps you awake. Another good one is this; paulmckenna.com/sleep

[Jenica in reply to portmoon]

Would love/wish hubby would give massage lol

[GoogleMe]

There are lots of possible strategies so I'll just throw in a variety.

The first thing I'm going to suggest is seeing if you can dump the notion of 'being good' and changing it to 'being kind to yourself'

Sometimes exercising close to bedtime affects sleep negatively.

Your local public library may well have self-hypnosis resources - mine has digital audiobooks. I really like Ekhart Yoga's yoga for sleep programme. You can access some of it for free on YouTube.

A mug of warm milk can be mildly sedative. Look out for your caffeine intake during the day.

I find reading helpful personally - I'd much rather do something useful with the time than thrash about. I also find it useful to have a supply of pillows to hand - ironically one downside of losing weight is that it can be uncomfortable if my knees are together, and sometimes having a cooler pillow to put my head on or curl round is helpful, even when I hadn't realised I was feeling hot.

If you are really getting very little sleep over a period of time, it could be worth consulting your GP to see if there is a medical cause which can be tackled.

[ForMe]

I really feel for you, I work with a lot of people who struggle with sleep and the solutions are very individual. Perhaps try keeping a diary to record your patterns and routines, are you doing the same thing night after night? Putting your thoughts to paper can also be cathartic in itself. Someone suggested to me that when you are wide awake, get up, make your bed & do something until you feel tired again - that way when you do go back you return to a clean, fresh bed without the crumpled bed sheet reminder of broken sleep. I hope these (and the ones below) give you something to start on. Keep us updated with your progress!

P.s restricting your calorie intake too much can impact on your sleep, make sure you're not super hungry or craving

[fibronfedup]

I struggle to sleep too, its horrid when you feel so drained, i try ignore the feeling as best as i can and keep going, maybe you have a little insomnia or as portmoon says a lot of tricks you can try. My talking therapies always said if after 20 mins get up and do something calming like read for 10 mins then try again, doesnt always help but worrying over it definitely makes it worse. Hope you sleep better

[Hairyman]

As others have written, try avoiding caffeine after 10 am. A friend of mine lives on coffee to stay awake during the day after sleeping less than 5 hours a night! He just cant seem to see the connection.

Are there times during the evening when you just want to go to bed but feel it's too early?

My wife at one time used to tell me not to go to bed at 7.30pm so I'd stay up till one in the morning! cos once I pass the sleep barrier i'm wide awake

[Jenica]

Have same problem hence writing this at this time of the morning. Unfortunately haven't got a clue why so awake even thoygh had bike ride and took grandkids swimming. I should be ok later on in the morning though.

[Bevfall]

I have granddaughters too ... Who wear me out (love em love em ) wonder if it's just age .. ?? It's not the not sleeping on night .. It's the being knackered all day I find hard !!